A few white stones in the mud and balloon strings dangling from a tree.

A metallic-coloured balloon in the shape of the letter “F” hanging upside down on a chain-link fence and four other letter-shaped ones pierced on the ground.

Tea-light candles and flower petals in the snow; a few ripped up posters denouncing police brutality.

Come Thursday morning, that’s all that was left of Wednesday night’s vigil in the Montreal North parking lot where Fredy Villanueva was shot and killed by police in 2008. The vigil was a celebration of his life on what would have been his 26th birthday Wednesday and it was followed by a protest march to denounce last week’s death of Jean-Pierre Bony. The 46-year-old man was shot with a rubber bullet during a police raid not far from the same park while police say he was trying to escape from an apartment. He died four days later from his injuries.

Attended by about 240 people, the protest went as peacefully as the vigil before it, police said. But then the peace turned to anger.

Shortly after protesters dispersed, police say they started receiving 911 calls from different places around the borough. After answering a few, they quickly noticed it was a ruse, they say.

The calls were made to distract officers sovandals could cause havoc in the surrounding streets. Some police cars were attacked by hammer-wielding protesters when they arrived on the scene, police said.

Broken-in cars and torched garbage bins still lined the streets in the area Thursday morning. A bank on Henri-Bourassa Blvd. was closed for the day with its brokenfront windows boarded up.

The local police station had its windows smashed in.

For the most part, police let them do it. It was a decision made in an attempt to avoid violent confrontations, said Anie Samson, the Montreal city executive committee member responsible for public security.

“It was a strategic choice,” Samson said on Thursday morning. “They wanted to provoke police. Had police intervened with more force, they would have been playing their game, and it could have degenerated.”

In all, six cars were torched and five others were vandalized. Fireworks were lit in the middle of streets. One person was injured, in hospital with a concussion on Thursday. No arrests were made.

“But had police acted (Wednesday) night, it probably would have been worse,” Samson said.

Above all else, Samson added, “It’s important to make one thing clear: these were not people from Montreal North.”

Samson couldn’t say who they were, or how she was sure they weren’t from the borough, but said police had plenty of evidence, including video and photos, to prove they were outsiders who infiltrated the protest to instigate the vandalism.

Pushed to elaborate, Samson conceded that she couldn’t know for sure yet who participated.

Ricardo Lamour, a close friend of the Villanueva family who walked among the protesters Wednesday, said he didn’t know if any of those who caused the damage were among the crowd that had gathered peacefully before.

But he says he could tell something was about to happen during the march. He was holding his friend’s young son in his arms and overheard someone tell another marcher not to do anything out of hand in front of the children.”

“Outsiders might have come in with an agenda,” he said, “But does it matter?”

“Let’s not lose focus of the real injustice: A SWAT team raided an apartment last week and treated it like they were playing a video game,” he said.

“But these are real lives.”

Anyone who would have seen the raided apartment — which police have since said was used as a hub for an alleged drug ring — would have seen that the people living there were barely living at all, Lamour said

“There are social-economic conditions that force people to do certain things,” Lamour said. “Why not try to understand those instead?

“Would a raid like that one have happened in Westmount or Outremont?”

Police seized a little more than 200 grams of marijuana, $2,000 in cash, two rocks of crack cocaine and cellphones in the raid. Villanueva’s brother, Dany, was arrested in connection to it at his home in Repentigny.

Lamour doesn’t condone what happened Wednesday night, he said.

“But what’s really sad is that people have to resort to this to have their voices heard,” he said. “We should be asking ourselves what caused the rioting to happen, why people are angry.”

Earlier in the day, Montreal executive committee chairman Pierre Desrochers was asked about the situation, and whether or not he was concerned that any of the progress made in the borough since Villanueva’s death has been erodedin the last week.

“Confidence is hard to get, and easy to lose,” he answered. “But we hope not.”

A Montreal police officer surveys a vandalized car on Pascal St. in Montreal North, April 7, 2016. A small riot following a peaceful demonstration resulted in torched and vandalized cars, vandalized buildings including a police station.

A Montreal police officer surveys a vandalized car on Pascal St. in Montreal North, April 7, 2016. A small riot following a peaceful demonstration resulted in torched and vandalized cars, vandalized buildings including a police station.

Police cars at Place Bourassa shopping Centre near Montreal police Station 39 in Montreal North, April 7, 2016. Police presence in the area is heavy after a small riot overnight following a peaceful demonstration resulted in torched cars, vandalized buildings including the police station.

A tow truck operator prepares a vandalized police car outside Montreal police Station 39 in Montreal North, April 7, 2016. A small riot following a peaceful demonstration resulted in torched cars, vandalized buildings including the police station.

A Montreal police officer sits inside damaged police Station 39 on Henri Bourassa in Montreal North, April 7, 2016, after a small riot overnight in which windows at the station were broken and paint thrown at the building by rioters. Cars were torched and some businesses were vandalized.

Police cars at Place Bourassa shopping Centre near Montreal police Station 39 in Montreal North, April 7, 2016. Police presence in the area is heavy after a small riot overnight following a peaceful demonstration resulted in torched cars, vandalized buildings including the police station.